Kolami (Northwestern Kolami/Southeastern Kolami) is a

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Central Dravidian language spoken in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

and

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

states of India. It falls under the Kolami–Naiki group of languages. It is the most widely spoken Central Dravidian language.

Classification

Kolami language has been classified as a central dravidian language. It is well known as dravidian language of

state. Well influenced by south central dravidian languages like Telugu and Gondi. It is also a tribal Dravidian language. Kolami is the dialect of the Kolam tribal group. The Kolami dialect differs considerably from the Gond language of the neighboring district. In some respects, Kolami is closely related to Telugu and in others to Kannada. The influence of the Bhilli language is felt as the communication in the surrounding area comes into contact. Some other points of similarity are also important like the Toda dialect of the Nilgiris and according to Dr. Grierson, linguistically speaking, the Kolami may be the remaining descendants of the Dravidian tribes. who either never participated in the development of the main Dravidian language or who never adopted Dravidian language.

Writing systems

Kolami language is written using

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...

, Goykanadi and Telugu scripts for writing purposes.

Numbers

First ten numbers

Nouns

Verbs

Present tense

Characteristics

Kolami has a two-gender system, being either

masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some beh ...

or non-masculine. Kolami has developed aspirated stops, distancing itself from its ancestor Proto-Dravidian.

Phonology

Sample Text

The given sample text is Article 1 from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

English

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Kolami

ऎल् मन्ककॆर् स्वातन्त्र्यनड् पुट्टॆन्दन् वन्नॆर्. मरि समानं मरि अधिकारङ्कुळन् समानम् अण्डर्. अवर् तर्कङ्कुळ् मरि विवेकंलड् सम्पन्नं मरि ऒक्कॊरिक्कॊवॆण्ट बन्धूत्वंलॆ भावनालड् आडन् पाजे। ఎల్ మన్కకెర్ స్వాతంత్ర్యనడ్ పుట్టెందన్ వన్నెర్. మరి సమానం మరి అధికారంకుళన్ సమానం అండర్. అవర్ తర్కంకుళ్ మరి వివేకంలడ్ సంపన్నం మరి ఒక్కొరిక్కొవెంట బంధూత్వంలె భావనాలడ్ ఆడన్ పాజే.

Romanisation

El mankaker svātantryanaḍ puṭṭendan vanner. Iṇi samānam iṇi adhikāraṅkuḷan samānam aṇḍar. Avar tarkaṅkuḷ iṇi vivēkanlaḍ sampannam iṇi okkorikkoveṇṭa bandhutvamle bhāvanālaḍ āḍan pājē. Also see Kolami Swadesh list on wiktionary.